Persona (The 'Professional' series)

by Ceri Bladen

  He watched her make her way to her room. He turned towards Eric who was looking at him with a puzzled expression on his face. “You will not believe what happened last night.”

  Eric arched his eyebrow and made a sweeping gesture with his arm at the broken lamps and mess in the room. “Do I really need to know?”

  “It isn’t how it looks. Now sit down while I call the Police. Then I will tell you all about my stalker, Lindsey.”

  Eric’s mouth dropped open. “No, not Stalker X.”

  ~~~~

  A couple of hours later the Police left. Ella started to tidy up the room. She needed something to do, she did not want to think too much about what had happened. She didn’t want to be reminded that there was a psycho woman out there who thought she was a whore. She also didn’t want to think how safe she had felt in Daniel’s arms. She rubbed her hands together and jumped when she heard the intercom.

  “It’s okay.” Daniel massaged her arms and held on to one of her hands when he answered.

  The guard’s voice boomed out. “Sorry to bother you Mr Spittle, but there is a Mr Jeff Williams down here to see Miss Ella Hender. Shall I send him up?”

  Ella noticed the increased pressure of Daniel’s grip. “Yes, of course. Send him up.” He let go of her fingers and Ella keenly felt the loss of them.

  Jeff came running in the door and ran straight up to Ella, enclosing her in a hug. “Christ, Ella. Are you OK? Eric phoned to tell me what happened. I drove straight up.” Ella was stuck for words.

  Daniel looked at Eric, his eyes narrowing. Eric merely shrugged his shoulders.

  Jeff looked around at Daniel, his eyes looked frantic. “Look Mr Spittle, I am sure under the circumstances you will not mind Ella coming back home for a couple of days, or until at least that woman is caught.”

  Daniel looked towards Ella. The last thing he wanted was to let her out of his sight, but what could he do? He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired and very defeated. “Of course.”

  He turned towards her. “Ella take as long as you need. You can start back on your assignment whenever you want. I am sure we can work something out. We can have the extra time added on at the end if you want. Or another reporter could be sent, if you prefer? Now if you don’t mind, after all the excitement I need to get some sleep.” He really couldn’t watch Ella leave again.

  ~~~~

  The car drive home seemed endless. Ella felt as though she had left her heart back in Daniel’s apartment. It all seemed so helpless. She was in love with someone who would never love her back. She stared out of the window, avoiding conversation with Jeff. He left her alone, thinking she was sleeping and he had turned the radio on low.

  Her heart dropped as Jeff parked outside the apartment block. Back home. Jeff told her to sit where she was. She watched as he went around the front of the car and opened her door for her. He held out his hand to help her out of the car. Crumbs, that was a first. He was usually standing waiting to lock the car doors, while she was struggling with the bags. Perhaps he had turned over a new leaf? Now she felt really guilty.

  Chapter 22

  Daniel put the phone back down into the receiver. Still no news about Lindsey. The Police had not found her yet. He walked to the window and noticed the Police car patrolling outside his apartment. He expected the same scene outside Ella’s window.

  He rubbed his hand over his mouth and chin, vaguely noticing the growth of stubble. He hadn’t needed to shave since Ella left as he hadn’t left the apartment.

  Eric had talked to him last night. He hadn’t wanted to listen, but he knew he had to pull himself together. But, he figured, a little pity ‘down time’ never hurt anyone. If he wanted to wallow, he would wallow. He had never felt this way before. So, he was going to have his couple of days and then pull himself back to being Daniel Spittle, actor.

  He rubbed his chin again. Perhaps he did need a shave and shower. Christ, he had taken plenty of cold showers when Ella was around.

  Eric’s wise words came back, his friend was right. Daniel knew what he was going to do. He was going to shower, shave, go out for dinner with his friend, have a few beers, come home to bed and then get back to normal. Time for feeling sorry for himself was over. Anyway, self-pity did not suit him.

  ~~~~

  “SShhhhh!” Daniel put his finger up to his mouth as he fell through the door, pulling Eric with him.

  Eric, trying to hold up his friend, searched for the light switch. “What do you mean sshhhh, there is no one here!” He laughed at his friend.

  They had a good time tonight, perhaps too much to drink, but a great time. Eric thought he had upset Daniel with that talk the night before, but luckily it seemed to have had an effect on him.

  Eric wasn’t daft, he knew his friend was in love with Ella. Perhaps, in different circumstances, she would have been the ideal partner for him. But until she made her own choices, all Eric could do was be there for his friend. Hell, perhaps she would always be known as the ‘one that got away’.

  “One nightcap?” Daniel slurred.

  “No, I’m off to bed.” Eric answered. The exertion of helping his friend home, and the alcohol, now making things a little dizzy. “I’ve had enough, thanks. See you in the morning.” He looked back at his friend who already was lying back on the chair. “You make sure you go to bed. Don’t fall asleep there.” It looked as though he was already asleep. Eric sighed and went to bed.

  Daniel folded his hands together over his stomach and wriggled deeper into the chair to get comfortable. Mmmm, quite comfortable. A brief thought went through his head that he would actually get a better sleep on the chair, than in his bed. All he seemed to do in bed was think of Ella. It must be the whiffs of her bubble bath that tormented his sleep.

  He sat up quickly, the room taking a little tilt. Ella. Yes, he would phone Ella. He had left her alone so far, but it would be the right thing to do to tell her about the Police enquiry, wouldn’t it? His alcohol addled brain made the decision easy. He picked up his mobile and phoned.

  ~~~~

  Ella was staring at the ceiling listening to Jeff quietly snore. The gap between them felt like a gulf stream. Crumbs, what a mess.

  She thought back to a couple of days ago, when the house phone had rung. She had picked it up, hoping that it was Daniel, but the line had just gone dead. It had happened periodically through the day. Jeff was in work and she started to get a little scared.

  The information from the Police, sitting outside her apartment, was that Lindsey hadn’t yet been caught. There was a chance that the calls were from Lindsey. She was a secretary after all and could have easily got her details off Daniel’s agent. Ella had gone outside to the patrol car and passed the information to the police.

  A couple of days later, they had come back to her. The phone calls were from a Miss Claire O’Neill. Did she know her? The Police had asked her. She had rattled her brain. Didn’t Jeff work with a Claire O’Neill? She had told the Police that she had no idea who she was. They informed her they would speak to Miss O’Neill. Ella suddenly had the feeling she needed to speak to Jeff when he returned from work.

  Jeff had come back from work with another bunch of flowers. He had brought one home every day since she had returned home. It was something that he never normally did, but Ella had liked it, she had thought it was sweet of him, a side she hadn’t seen in a long time.

  This time, when she had taken the flowers, she felt really guilty as she knew what she was going to do. She put the flowers in a vase, gave him a sweet peck on the cheek, took his jacket (which she was hoping contained his mobile phone) and sent him off to the shower before she served dinner.

  She held her breath while waiting for the shower to start. Ella grabbed his jacket, her hands shaking, to find his mobile. She searched the mail archives. Bingo. Tears started silently falling. Message after message, signed, not with a name, just C. Sexy texts, loving words, but more recently begging messages, which Ella noticed coincided with the tim
e of the ‘psycho’ incident, as she now called it.

  She looked at the phone in her hand. He was an intelligent man for goodness sake, was he so confident that she would never look at his phone, not to delete them? Did he spend evenings when he wasn’t with C rereading them?

  Ella tried to get a grip on how she felt. Upset? Devastated? No, more like empty. She heard the shower water switch off. Not long before she had to deal with him. She stirred the curry she had made on the stove.

  ~~~~

  Tears fell and hit her pillow. After a little back peddling, Jeff had finally admitted that he had gotten involved with Claire from work. He had insisted that when he had heard that Ella nearly died at the hands of a psycho, he had realised that he loved her, not Claire.

  They had argued, cried, sulked and then ended up in bed together. That was the situation now, Jeff sleeping and Ella realising that even the make-up sex did not help. She felt emptier than ever. She now knew, one hundred per cent, that her relationship with Jeff was over.

  She heard her phone vibrate and quickly picked it up off her side table, checking to see that Jeff hadn’t been disturbed.

  “Hello, ssshhhh. Did I wake you up?” Daniel slurred down the phone.

  Her heart lifted. She whispered, conscious of Jeff next to her. “No.”

  “Sshhh. Why are you whispering?” Daniel whispered back. “Oh, have you got someone in bed with you, ssshhh?”

  Ella smiled to herself, Daniel was drunk. “Yes I have.”

  “Oh.” She heard the slight disappointment in Daniel’s reply.

  Alcohol made him bolder. “Ella?”

  “Yes Daniel?”

  “I would like you in my bed.”

  Her heart squeezed, she would like to be in his bed too.

  “Do you know what I would do with you if you were? It wouldn’t involve sleeping. I would…”

  A blush rose on her cheeks, it was her time to say, “Sshh! Daniel go to bed now. I will see you very soon.”

  “Great, I’m looking forward to seeing you. I love you Ella.” He put the phone down.

  “I love you too,” she whispered at the dialling tone, clutching the phone to her chest.

  Chapter 23

  Ella rolled her shoulders after she hung her dress in the wardrobe. Nearly another week following Daniel around, recording his life was over, only a couple of weeks to go now. Then she would have to work out what she was going to do with her life.

  On the journey back, in the back of the vehicle that Daniel had sent for her, she contemplated everything that had happened to her recently, how her life had changed.

  After lots of discussions and tears, between her and Jeff, they had decided to go their separate ways. It was more her than him, he seemed to want to go on trying, which had surprised Ella. Once the decision was made, there was surprising little to do, they had kept most of their finances separate. They had decided that Jeff would stay on in the apartment and continue paying the rent. So, Ella had packed as many clothes as she could and brought them with her to Daniels.

  She wondered how she was going to broach the subject of her single status with Daniel after his drunken phone call. She had previously used Jeff effectively as a shield from any advances Daniel made, it kept a distance. She thought it was mainly because she was unused to being so affected by someone and needed to keep him at a distance. What would happen if he knew she wasn’t with Jeff anymore? She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted him to know. If truth be known, she was slightly frightened at her feelings for him.

  Not telling him seemed the safest option at the time, but when she got back, there was no dilemma. Daniel had obviously forgotten he had drunk phoned her, nothing was mentioned at all. She was unsure if she was relieved or not about that. He was still very courteous and kind to her, but she noticed a slight distance within him. She sighed, perhaps that was a good thing. She had re-read her article on him the other day and was shocked to see how personal it had become. She needed to re-establish the professional distance, so in reality, Daniel was helping.

  She sat on the end of the bed, looking at her full wardrobe. This was her wardrobe now until she rented somewhere else. Luckily, only the driver and security guard, who had kindly helped her carry the suitcases up, had seen how much baggage she had arrived back with. Perhaps it was better that only a few people knew that she was homeless.

  Ella stiffened and looked towards the door when she heard a knock. Hurriedly, she shut the wardrobe door before answering. Daniel walked in carrying a glass of wine for her and a gorgeous smile.

  “I thought you could do with one of these, before dinner.” He raised up a wine glass, filled with cold white wine, to show her. He hesitated slightly and then walked across the room to pass it to her.

  When he gave it to her, his hands suddenly felt very empty, so he caught his thumbs in his jeans pockets. Gosh, she looked beautiful with the light behind her. She was biting her bottom lip with, was that a guilty look on her face?

  Daniel suddenly felt uncomfortable, he had an overwhelming urge to touch her and find out what she looked so guilty about. He was glad his hands were restricted. He turned and walked back towards the door, before he did anything he might regret.

  “I forgot to mention before, but there is a.… shall we call it – a get together at Scarlett’s house on the weekend. Before she starts filming, she usually invites the cast and crew over to get to know each other. I would imagine that you would like to come? There are plenty of people there that you could interview for your article.”

  Ella felt excitement surge through her. “Oh yes, that would be wonderful.” She smiled at him. “What type of get together is it? What I mean is, is it formal or casual?”

  Daniel smiled apologetically and shook his head. “As we are talking about Scarlett here, it will be formal, black tie, evening dress sort of thing. She doesn’t do casual. You might want to take tomorrow off work to find a dress, go to the hairdressers or whatever you women do to look good.”

  He looked towards the overstuffed wardrobe and raised an eyebrow. “Unless you have got something suitable in there?” He noticed she blushed.

  “No, yes. I mean great, I will take tomorrow off. If that is acceptable with you?”

  He started through the door, stopped and turned back around. “You will need to pack an overnight bag too.” He had a thoughtful look on his face.

  Ella’s breath caught, her mind recalling the last time she went away with him. “Will Eric be coming with us?” If she didn’t have Jeff as a shield this time, perhaps Eric would do as a substitute. She wasn’t sure she would be able to keep away from him otherwise.

  “Yes. Dinner is in half an hour.” He left and closed the door.

  Chapter 24

  Ella had a delightful time shopping. She even had a couple of hours to forget the stresses of ex-lovers, psychos trying to kill her, and her attraction to Daniel. Well actually, that was a bit of a lie, as she spent most of the day wondering if Daniel would prefer this or that dress, what should she do with her hair to look more sophisticated and basically thought about his opinions on anything she bought!

  She sat down at the table in the restaurant, took her shoes off and wiggled her toes discreetly under the tablecloth. Oh, that felt good. She hoped her feet were not too swollen, as, after lunch, she would have to find a pair of shoes to go with the lovely peacock coloured dress she had purchased this morning. Something high, to make her legs look longer, and to make her feel taller next to Scarlett.

  She looked at all the packages that she had placed on the chair next to her and giggled. It had been ages since she had indulged herself and maxed out her credit cards. Usually, she had put her extra monies into the ‘bill’ pot with Jeff to cover the rent, amongst other things. She sighed, that was something she would have to do again very soon, but this time on her own, no more splurges for a while.

  She looked at her cold white wine, condensation on the outside of the glass. No, she would worry about that a lit
tle later down the line.

  She watched as the waiter put the seafood paella down in front of her. She sighed contently as she sniffed, she was going to enjoy today.

  Chapter 25

  Ella felt as though she was gawping. The house they were renting near Scarlett’s was astounding; all windows, glass, marble and on the beach too! The luxury was nearly overwhelming. She felt like a child again on Christmas Eve, she was so excited.

  Running her fingertips over everything in her path, she walked towards the large glass windows that took over nearly all of the adjacent wall. It was magnificent as it pictured the beach and sea outside like a living picture frame. She was so overawed and caught up by the scene, she didn’t hear Daniel walk up behind her.

  “Fancy a skinny dip at midnight?” he whispered into her ear from behind, as his hands gently clasped her shoulders.

  A ripple shot down to Ella’s toes when his warm breath tickled her neck near her earlobe. She inwardly trembled, his nearness was wrecking the inner calm she had just seconds before. She knew how he affected her, just his nearness was sending her senses haywire. She could swear her body was trying to retreat backwards towards his heat, she kept her feet firmly planted, and laughed to ease her tension instead.

  Daniel straightened back up. It was too tempting to start kissing her exposed neck. He could see her pulse beating wildly and it was sending his system into overdrive. Christ, he wanted her, so badly; it was now starting to hurt to be near her.

  Something was sizzling and vibrating through the atmosphere, but both tried to ignore it. For now.

  “Come on. Let’s relax for a while, before we unpack. Then we can go to Scarlett’s…um…gathering. What drink would you like?” Daniel moved towards the stocked bar.